This invention relates generally to goals used in the sport of ice hockey.
Rule 3c and 3d in the Official Rules of the NHL state the criterion for the currently used ice hockey goal in regards to color:                (3c) there shall be attached to each goal frame a net of approved design made of white nylon cord which shall be draped in such a manner as to prevent the puck coming to rest on the outside of it . . . .        (3d) the goal posts and cross-bar shall be painted in red and all other exterior surfaces shall be painted in white, (www.nhl.com).        
Rule 3 also sets forth the requirements for the net in pertinent part as follows:                The frame of the goal shall be draped with a nylon mesh net so as to completely enclose the back of the frame. The net shall be made of three-ply twisted twine (0.130 inch diameter) or equivalent braided twine of multifilament white nylon with an appropriate tensile strength of 700 pounds. The size of the mesh shall be two and one-half inches (2½″) (inside measurement) from each knot to each diagonal knot when fully stretched. Knotting shall be made as to ensure no sliding of the twine. The net shall be laced to the frame with medium white nylon cord no smaller in size than No. 21.        
The current color system is red posts with white netting and it is this very system that leaves hockey player, when shooting the puck, shooters at a decided perceptual disadvantage when as they visually process the target.
The hockey goal itself, with color set aside for a moment, is an enormous perceptual challenge. This is because a goal is scored when the puck crosses the goal line. Yet, when a shooter must make his judgments about the goal, he is basing his estimates on shooting the puck to the back of the goal and not, as would be the most accurate, on shooting the puck so that it breaks the plane of the goal line. The netting is at some points nearly four feet behind the goal line. The unfeasibility of imaging that plane rather than seeing the back of the net makes this a formidable obstacle in the act of shooting. The great basketball player and thinker Jerry Lucas overcame the issue of breaking a plane in order to score in his sport by imagining the face of a clock overlaying the opening of the hoop. In doing so Lucas refined one of the most consistent outside shots ever seen, but the variances in appearance of a goal caused by goaltender positioning would make this concept difficult to apply to hockey.
This issue of seeing the plane is complicated further by two components of the current goal. The first is that the red goal posts will always perceptually appear nearer than they really are. The other is that the light colored netting, currently white, increases one's sense of volume. As described by Mahnke and Mahnke, “Lightness is one of the most important factors in the perception of openness in the interior space. Light or pale colors recede and increase the apparent room size,” (Mahnke, Frank H. and Rudolf H. Mahnke. Color and light in man-made environments. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1987, 16). Thus white causes the actual volume and depth of the space between the plane of the goal line and the actual netting [erase: of an ice hockey goal] to appear as even greater than it really is. A solution to this, as proposed by the inventive hockey goal herein involves the employment of a red net. This will have some degree of impact on shrinking the perceived space between the goal line and the net. “Dark or saturated hues protrude and decrease the apparent size of a room,” (Mahnke, Frank H. and Rudolf H. Mahnke. Color and light in man-made environments. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1987, 16). This will cause the hockey shooter to see the back of the net as closer to the plane of the goal line, which will make for more accurate mental estimations of the trajectory needed for a puck that will leave the player's stick and break that given plane.
There are four major factors that have led to the documented goal scoring depression in organized hockey. The factors are: 1. the ongoing evolution of goaltending in both technique and equipment; 2. improvement of defense on both an individual level and in the area of team defense; 3. the continued and possibly heightened use of the illegal defensive strategies obstruction/holding; and 4. the adaptive nature to professional players by youth players who tend to develop their games so as to best suit the present demands of the NHL game. These areas of the game have combined to make goal scoring more difficult than ever before, which guarantees lower levels of scoring and higher costs of trying to score. The applicant has analyzed the issue of diminished scoring and has discovered that the sport has been using a goal that does not optimize the shooter's ability to see the target-especially during high speed chaotic game conditions. If scoring truly is a primary concern, then the target defined by the goal must be enhanced to be more shooter-friendly.
Despite significant attention being paid to the NHL's serious downturn in offensive production the issue remains unresolved due to the constraints of hockey tradition and the desire to promote basic hockey skills. The changes provided in the inventive hockey goal are moderately progressive and they do not disrupt hockey tradition. Because the invention enhances the visibility of the goal/target, there will be an impact that is felt on every shot taken, which is a claim that other proposed solutions such as removing the “redline”, cannot make. It is the ability of the inventive hockey goal herein to be a factor in every shot taken that makes the invention a viable tactical response to this that has been called “The Dead Puck Era”.